Von

Miller

Miller was suspended at the beginning of October for violating the league’s personal conduct policy, missing Week 5 through Week 8. He will likely immediately return to a situational pass rush role for a Bills team surging up the AFC leaderboard.

He’ll be eligible to return in Week 9 against the Dolphins. Miller had three sacks and five tackles in four games so far this season, rejuvenating himself after a zero-sack 2023. Only a situational pass rusher at this point, Miller will be missed but isn’t exactly a linchpin piece of the Buffalo defense anymore. It’s a slight upgrade for the Texans passing attack this week.

The Bills have made a series of roster cuts and now restructure Miller to save cap space. The new deal for Miller has a base value of $8.855 million in 2024 with the opportunity to get up to $20 million in incentives. The previous contract was up to $17.5 million in incentives. Reducing Miller’s cap hit and making the contract incentive-laden saves the Bills $8.645 in cap for the 2024 season. After a Divisional Round exit in the playoffs, the Bills have had to find ways to save money for a push next season.

Considering the money the Bills are paying Miller and the fact that they continued to play him in recent weeks despite domestic violence allegations, this is a surprise. However, Miller has not performed on the field at all since coming back from a torn ACL, so he likely would have been benched much sooner if he wasn’t Von Miller. With A.J. Epenesa back, the Bills have decided to sit Miller, which also calls into question his future with the team. With DT DaQuan Jones also healthy, the Bills have made DT Linval Joseph inactive. Other inactives for the Bills are OL Alec Anderson, S Damar Hamlin, and CB Kaiir Elam.

Without formal charges brought against Miller for alleged domestic violence, the league has not placed him on the commissioner’s exempt list and the Bills expect Miller to suit up this week against the Chiefs. Bills GM Brandon Beane didn’t rule out making Miller inactive against KC due to poor on-field performance. The NFL, meanwhile, continues to investigate the allegations against Miller.

According to Lopez’s article, the warrant is for the charge of assaulting a pregnant person, which is a third-degree felony. Miller, who is originally from the Dallas area, was also under investigation for domestic violence in 2021in Colorado but was ultimately not charged in the case. We don’t know much about the case or what Miller’s future holds regarding his future with the Bills, but we will provide any updates as they come in. Miller and the Bills are on bye and won’t play again until Week 14 against the Chiefs.

A lot was made about Miller playing only six snaps in Buffalo’s loss to New England on Sunday, but the veteran explained that the game didn’t present as many clear pass-rushing situations as they would have liked. He and the team continue to assert that the veteran hasn’t experience any setback and Miller himself is optimistic about his performance on Thursday against the Bucs: “I’m in a good spot. I feel like this week will be my best week.”

Inactive for the Bills are S Damar Hamlin, CB Christian Benford, DE Greg Rousseau, OT Germain Ifedi, OL Alec Anderson, DE Shaq Lawson, and DT Poona Ford. Miller is active for the first time since suffering a torn ACL in November last year. His return will give the Bills’ pass-rush a massive boost.

Miller will make his long awaited season debut with the Bills after completing his recovery from a torn ACL suffered in November of the 2022 season. It is likely the electric pass rusher will be on some sort of snap limitation in his first game action of the 2023 season, but his presence brings a significant boost to a Buffalo defense already leading the league in pressure-to-blitz ratio.

Miller, who has practiced throughout the week ahead of the Bills’ London game against Jacksonville, gave himself a 94.5 percent chance to play in Week 5. It’s a shockingly precise number and one that suggests Miller will suit up for the first time since tearing his ACL last November. Without Miller this season, Buffalo has what Pro Football Focus has graded as the league’s eighth worst pass rush.